DOCSLIB.ORG

The Philosophy of Zen Master Dōgen: Egoless Perspectivism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Philosophy of Zen Master Dōgen: Egoless Perspectivism The Philosophy of Zen Master Dōgen: Egoless Perspectivism Oxford Handbooks Online The Philosophy of Zen Master Dōgen: Egoless Perspectivism Bret W. Davis The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy Edited by William Edelglass and Jay L. Garfield Print Publication Date: May 2011 Subject: Philosophy, Non-Western Philosophy Online Publication Date: Sep DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195328998.003.0030 2011 Abstract and Keywords Dōgen Kigen (1200–1253), founder of the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism, is undoubtedly one of the most original and profound thinkers in Japanese history. This article focuses on Dōgen's Genjōkōan, which can be translated as “The Presencing of Truth.” This key text for understanding Dōgen's thought is the core fascicle of his major work, Shōbōgenzō (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye). It is the “treasury of the true Dharma eye” that Śākyamuni Buddha (ca. 500 BCE) is said to have transmitted to his successor, Mahākāshyapa, by silently holding up a flower. This event is held to mark the beginning of the Zen tradition, which is characterized by Bodhidharma (ca. 500 CE) as “a special transmission outside the scriptures; not depending on words and letters; directly pointing to the human mind; seeing into one's nature and becoming a Buddha”. Keywords: Japanese philosophy, Dōgen Kigen, Bodhidharma, Zen Buddhism, Genjōkōan Carrying the self forward to verify-in-practice the myriad things is delusion; for the myriad things to come forth and verify-in-practice the self is enlightenment. …[When] a person verifies-in-practice the Buddha Way, attaining one thing he or she becomes thoroughly familiar with that one thing; encountering one activity he or she [sincerely] practices that one activity. Since this is where the place [of the presencing of truth] is and the Way achieves its circulation, the reason that the limits of what is knowable are not known is that this knowing arises and proceeds together with the exhaustive fathoming of the Buddha Dharma.1 Dōgen Kigen (1200–1253), founder of the Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism, is undoubtedly one of the most original and profound thinkers in Japanese history. The focus of this chapter will be on Dōgen's Genjōkōan, which can be translated as “The Presencing of Truth.”2 This key text for understanding Dōgen's thought is the core fascicle of his major work, Shōbōgenzō (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye). It (p. 349) is the “treasury of the true Dharma eye” that Śākyamuni Buddha (ca. 500 BCE) is said to have transmitted to his successor, Mahākāshyapa, by silently holding up a flower. This event is held to mark the beginning of the Zen tradition, which is characterized by Bodhidharma (ca. 500 CE) as “a special transmission outside the scriptures; not depending on words and letters; directly pointing to the human mind; seeing into one's nature and becoming a Buddha.” Like Bodhidharma, who is said to have sat in meditation for nine years after bringing Zen (Ch. Chan) from India to China, Dōgen too placed great emphasis on the silent practice of “just sitting” (shikantaza). Yet Dōgen's writings are not just expedient means to practice and enlightenment, fingers pointing at the moon; they are also literary and philosophical masterpieces in their own right. Indeed, Dōgen is considered by many to be the greatest “philosopher” in the tradition of Zen Buddhism.3 Rather than merely insist on the limits of language and reason, he poetically and philosophically manifests their expressive potential. The “entangled vines” (kattō) of language are not treated simply as impediments to be cut through with the sword of silent meditation and ineffable insight. Instead, they are understood to have the potential to become “expressive attainments of the Way” 4 Page 1 of 10 PRINTED FROM OXFORD HANDBOOKS ONLINE (www.oxfordhandbooks.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2015. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 18 August 2015 The Philosophy of Zen Master Dōgen: Egoless Perspectivism (dōtoku) that manifest perspectival aspects of the dynamic Buddha-nature of reality.4 Dōgen accepts the delimited and delimiting nature of language and of thought in general. And yet, he does not think that the perspectival limits of all perception, feeling, and understanding are as such antithetical to enlightenment. Rather than an overcoming of perspectivism, enlightenment for Dōgen entails a radical reorientation and qualitative transformation of the process of perspectival delimitation. Nietzsche once wrote, “Egoism is the law of perspective applied to feelings.”5 Dōgen would say that “egoistic perspectivism” well describes a state of delusion. Enlightenment, on the other hand, is precisely a matter of shedding the egoistic will to posit oneself as the fixed center of the world. Nevertheless, according to Dōgen, enlightenment does not supplant perspectival knowing with an omniscient “view from nowhere.” Rather, it involves an ongoing nondual engagement in a process of (p. 350) letting the innumerable perspectival aspects of reality illuminate themselves. Enlightenment thus entails an egoless and nondual perspectivism. Dōgen would agree with Heidegger that any manifestation of truth always involves both a revealing and a concealing.6 As Dōgen puts it, “When one side is illuminated, the other side is darkened.”7 This epistemological principle is one of the central themes of his thought, and it can be found at work already in the famous opening section of the Genjōkōan. Since these programmatic yet laconic first four sentences of the text are often thought to contain the kernel of Dōgen's philosophy of Zen, let us begin by quoting and explicating them. As we shall see, these few lines can be read as a compact history of the unfolding of Buddhist thought from its foundational teachings through Mahāyāna philosophies to Dōgen's Zen. Through Buddhism to Zen When the various things [dharmas] are [seen according to] the Buddha's teaching [Buddha Dharma], there are delusion and enlightenment; there is (transformative) practice; there is birth/life; there is death; there are ordinary sentient beings; and there are Buddhas. When the myriad things are each [seen as] without self [i.e., as without independent substantiality], there is neither delusion nor enlightenment; there are neither Buddhas nor ordinary sentient beings; and there is neither birth/life nor death. Since the Buddha Way originally leaps beyond both plentitude and poverty, there are arising and perishing; there are delusion and enlightenment; and there are ordinary sentient beings and Buddhas. And yet, although this is how we can say that it is, it is just that flowers fall amid our attachment and regret, and weeds flourish amid our rejecting and loathing.8 While the first sentence speaks from the temporal perspective of “when the various things are [seen according to] the Buddha's teaching…,” the second sentence speaks from that of “when the myriad things are each [seen as] without self….” What is affirmed in the first sentence is strikingly negated in the second. What is Dōgen doing here in this overturning alteration of perspective? While the first sentence sets forth several fundamental distinctions that constitute the basic teachings of Buddhism—such as that between ordinary sentient beings and their delusion on the one hand and Buddhas and their enlightenment on the other—the second sentence, by focusing now on the central teaching of no-self (anātman), goes on to (p. 351) negate the reification of these oppositional designations. For readers familiar with Mahāyāna Buddhism's Perfection of Wisdom literature, such self- deconstructive negations in a Buddhist text do not come as too much of a surprise. The Heart Sutra, for example, radicalizes the early Buddhist doctrine of no-self into that of the emptiness (śūnyatā; i.e., the lack of independent substantiality) of all phenomenal elements of existence (dharmas) and linguistic conventions, even to the point of a systematic negation of (a reified misunderstanding of) traditional Buddhist teachings themselves, including the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The Heart Sutra also speaks of no-birth, no-death, and no-attainment, rather than of nirvāna as the attainment of a release from samsāra as the cycle of birth and death.9 Furthermore, readers familiar with Mādhyamaka philosopher Nāgārjuna's notion of the “emptiness of emptiness” (i.e., the idea that emptiness itself is not an independently substantial entity, but rather is the nature of events of interdependent origination [pratītya-samutpāda]),10 and with Tiantai (Jap. Tendai) philosopher Zhiyi's development of the Two Truths (i.e., the conventional truth of provisional designations and the ultimate truth of emptiness) into 11 Page 2 of 10 PRINTED FROM OXFORD HANDBOOKS ONLINE (www.oxfordhandbooks.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2015. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy). Subscriber: OUP-Reference Gratis Access; date: 18 August 2015 The Philosophy of Zen Master Dōgen: Egoless Perspectivism the Three Truths of “the provisional, the empty, and the middle,”11 will be prepared for the third sentence of the Genjōkōan. No longer qualified by a “when…,” the “middle” perspective expressed here resolves the tension between the first two perspectives so as to make possible the reaffirmation of distinctions, but now without reification. In fact, in its teaching of the ontological middle way of interdependent origination, Buddhism has always rejected nihilism and annihilationism along with substantialism and eternalism. The Buddhist account of the interdependent and dynamic nature of reality and the self is not subject to the “all or nothing” dilemma that plagues an ontology of independent and eternal substances.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hagiwara Sakutarô, Buddhist Realism, and the Establishment of Japanese Modern Poetry
    HAGIWARA SAKUTARÔ, BUDDHIST REALISM, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF JAPANESE MODERN POETRY Roberto Pinheiro Machado1 Resumo: Este artigo aborda a obra do poeta Hagiwara Sakutarô (1886-1942) a partir de uma perspectiva comparativa que engaja filosofia e literatura. A dimensão filosófica da poesia de Sakutarô é analisada por meio de uma leitura intertextual entre a obra do poeta japonês e a epistemologia budista presente nos textos em sânscrito dos filósofos Dignāga and Dharmakīrti (século V). Essa análise comparativa é efetuada sob a perspectiva da influência do naturalismo europeu no surgimento da poesia japonesa moderna. Demonstrando a possibilidade de um realismo budista que compartilha importantes características estéticas com o naturalismo, o artigo enfatiza a dimensão budista da poesia de Sakutarô, a qual se desvela apesar da rejeição ao budismo operada pelo próprio poeta como passo necessário para o estabelecimento da modernidade nas letras japonesas. Palavras-chave: Hagiwara Sakutarô, Poesia japonesa, Budismo, Modernidade, Filosofia Abstract: This article approaches the works of poet Hagiwara Sakutarô (1886-1942) from a comparative perspective that engages philosophy and literature. The philosophical dimension of Sakutarô’s poetry is analyzed by means of inter-textual readings that draw on the tradition of Buddhist epistemology and on the texts of logicians Dignāga and Dharmakīrti (5th century). The comparative analysis is considered under the perspective of the influence of Naturalism and the use of description in the emergence of Japanese modern poetry. Pointing to the possibility of a Buddhist realism that shares some common characteristics with Naturalism, the article emphasizes the Buddhist dimension of Sakutarô’s poetry, which appears in spite of the poet’s turn to Western philosophy (notably 1.
    [Show full text]
  • 2019-20 Annual Report
    PRINCETON UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT AND PROGRAM OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES Annual Report 2019-2020 1 COVER: The wooden doors to 202 Jones. Photo taken by Martin Kern. 2 Annual Report 2019-20 Contents Director’s Letter 4 Department and Program News 6 Language Programs 8 Undergraduates 11 Graduate Students 14 Faculty 18 Events 24 Summer Programs 26 Affiliated Programs 29 Libraries & Museum 34 3 Director’s Letter, 2019-20 In normal years, the Director’s Letter is a retrospective of the year in East Asian Studies—but where to begin? Annual disasters and upheavals are standard topics in traditional East Asian chronicles. By June of 2020 (a gengzi 庚子 year), we had already lived through more than our share: the coronavirus pandemic, severe economic downturn, government inaction and prevarication, Princeton’s shift to online teaching, dislocation of undergraduate and graduate life, shuttering of libraries and labs, disruption to travel, study, and research for students, staff, and faculty, the brutal murder of George Floyd, and the international renaissance of the Black Lives Matter movement. invigorate campus intellectual life, completing book This spring semester, the usual hum of summer manuscripts, or starting new projects. The heaviest burden, programming and plans for next academic year grew no doubt, fell on our language instructors. The faculty quiet, and many EAS projects were cancelled, postponed, in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean innovated non-stop to shifted online, or put on hold. As this Annual Report goes insure that, in the era of Zoom, students would remain fully to press, plans for undergraduate residence on campus engaged in all four language skills of speaking, listening, and the format for classes in fall of 2020 are still being reading, and writing.
    [Show full text]
  • 'What Is Japanese Philosophy'?
    Introduction: ‘What is Japanese Philosophy’? 459 Introduction: ‘What is Japanese Philosophy’? Raji C. Steineck and Elena Louisa Lange Remarks on the History of a Problem Until very recently, a first inquiry about ‘Japanese Philosophy’ could end up right in wonderland. Depending on which book or expert one turned to for general orientation, one would either learn that a) ‘Philosophy’ has never existed in Japan;1 b) ‘Philosophy’ was evident in Japan from the earliest written sources;2 or c) ‘Japanese Philosophy’ started with Nishida Kitarō’s Study of the Good (1911).3 To make things even more mind-boggling, experts and books upholding proposition b) – philosophical thought is evident in Japan from the earliest written sources – would either assert that it was b’) essentially the same as in the West, or b’’) essentially different from Western, and even from Indian and Chinese philosophy. The publication of a monumental sourcebook in Japanese Philosophy which contains materials from the 8th to the 20th century,4 and the introduction of pertinent articles in standard philosophical encyclopaedias such as the Routledge and the Stanford Encyclopaedias of Philosophy have changed the situation somewhat in the Western world, giving pre-eminence to variants of position b). But position a) is still upheld by many, 1 The locus classicus is Nakae Chōmin’s statement: ‘Since olden times to this day there has been no philosophy in Japan’, quoted recently eg. in Clinton, ‘“Philosophy” or “Religion”?’, p. 75. Godart adds: ‘This view, that there is no such thing as Japanese thought before 1868 which can be labeled “philosophy”, has become prevalent in Japan.
    [Show full text]
  • Deepest Practice, Deepest Wisdom
    “A magnificent gift for anyone interested in the deep, clear waters of Zen—its great foundational master coupled with one of its finest modern voices.” —JISHO WARNER, former president of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association FAMOUSLY INSIGHTFUL AND FAMOUSLY COMPLEX, Eihei Dōgen’s writings have been studied and puzzled over for hundreds of years. In Deepest Practice, Deepest Wisdom, Kshō Uchiyama, beloved twentieth-century Zen teacher, addresses himself head-on to unpacking Dōgen’s wisdom from three fascicles (or chapters) of his monumental Shōbōgenzō for a modern audience. The fascicles presented here from Shōbōgenzō, or Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, include “Shoaku Makusa” or “Refraining from Evil,” “Maka Hannya Haramitsu” or “Practicing Deepest Wisdom,” and “Uji” or “Living Time.” Daitsū Tom Wright and Shōhaku Okumura lovingly translate Dōgen’s penetrating words and Uchiyama’s thoughtful commentary on each piece. At turns poetic and funny, always insightful, this is Zen wisdom for the ages. KŌSHŌ UCHIYAMA was a preeminent Japanese Zen master instrumental in bringing Zen to America. The author of over twenty books, including Opening the Hand of Thought and The Zen Teaching of Homeless Kodo, he died in 1998. Contents Introduction by Tom Wright Part I. Practicing Deepest Wisdom 1. Maka Hannya Haramitsu 2. Commentary on “Maka Hannya Haramitsu” Part II. Refraining from Evil 3. Shoaku Makusa 4. Commentary on “Shoaku Makusa” Part III. Living Time 5. Uji 6. Commentary on “Uji” Part IV. Comments by the Translators 7. Connecting “Maka Hannya Haramitsu” to the Pāli Canon by Shōhaku Okumura 8. Looking into Good and Evil in “Shoaku Makusa” by Daitsū Tom Wright 9.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy 1
    Philosophy 1 PHILOSOPHY VISITING FACULTY Doing philosophy means reasoning about questions that are of basic importance to the human experience—questions like, What is a good life? What is reality? Aileen Baek How are knowledge and understanding possible? What should we believe? BA, Yonsei University; MA, Yonsei University; PHD, Yonsei University What norms should govern our societies, our relationships, and our activities? Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy; Visiting Scholar in Philosophy Philosophers critically analyze ideas and practices that often are assumed without reflection. Wesleyan’s philosophy faculty draws on multiple traditions of Alessandra Buccella inquiry, offering a wide variety of perspectives and methods for addressing these BA, Universitagrave; degli Studi di Milano; MA, Universitagrave; degli Studi di questions. Milano; MA, Universidad de Barcelona; PHD, University of Pittsburgh Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy William Paris BA, Susquehanna University; MA, New York University; PHD, Pennsylvania State FACULTY University Stephen Angle Frank B. Weeks Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy BA, Yale University; PHD, University of Michigan Mansfield Freeman Professor of East Asian Studies; Professor of Philosophy; Director, Center for Global Studies; Professor, East Asian Studies EMERITI Lori Gruen Brian C. Fay BA, University of Colorado Boulder; PHD, University of Colorado Boulder BA, Loyola Marymount University; DPHIL, Oxford University; MA, Oxford William Griffin Professor of Philosophy; Professor
    [Show full text]
  • Reconsidering the Theoretical/Practical Divide: the Philosophy of Nishida Kitarō
    University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2013 Reconsidering The Theoretical/Practical Divide: The Philosophy Of Nishida Kitarō Lockland Vance Tyler University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Tyler, Lockland Vance, "Reconsidering The Theoretical/Practical Divide: The Philosophy Of Nishida Kitarō" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 752. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/752 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RECONSIDERING THE THEORETICAL/PRACTICAL DIVIDE: THE PHILOSOPHY OF NISHIDA KITARŌ A Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Philosophy University of Mississippi by LOCKLAND V. TYLER APRIL 2013 Copyright Lockland V. Tyler 2013 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Over the years professional philosophy has undergone a number of significant changes. One of these changes corresponds to an increased emphasis on objectivity among philosophers. In light of new discoveries in logic and science, contemporary analytic philosophy seeks to establish the most objective methods and answers possible to advance philosophical progress in an unambiguous way. By doing so, we are able to more precisely analyze concepts, but the increased emphasis on precision has also been accompanied by some negative consequences. These consequences, unfortunately, are much larger and problematic than many may even realize. What we have eventually arrived in at in contemporary Anglo-American analytic philosophy is a complete repression of humanistic concerns.
    [Show full text]
  • David Dilworth
    David Dilworth | 2007-2017 Professor Dilworth specializes in the world history of philosophy employing a method that combines exegesis and comparative evaluation of the classic texts. He has done pioneer translation and critical work in the area of Asian, especially Japanese, thought; in more recent years he has specialized in classical American philosophy. He is now continuing a series of studies which establish a trans-Atlantic paradigm running from Kant and the post-Kantians (especially Schelling) to the epigones of American Transcendentalism (Emerson) and Pragmatism (Peirce, James). 1. Books Revised Translation of Fukuzawa Yukichi: Outline of a Theory of Civilization, trans. David A. Dilworth and G. Cameron Hurst, Tokyo: Keio University Press, 2008. (Prof. Hurst’s illness prevented him from doing any work on this redaction which involved intensive collaboration with the staff of Keio University Press during Jan. to May 2008.) Republished by Columbia University Press, 2009. Revised translation of Fukuzawa Yukichi: An Encouragement of Learning, trans. David Dilworth, Tokyo: Keio University Press, 2011. (This retranslation also involved intensive collaboration with the staff of Keio University Press, beginning Jan. 2008 to May 2008 and thereafter through 2010). Republished by Columbia University Press, 2012. 2. Chapters in Books “The Phenomenology and Logic of Inter-presence in Watsuji Tetsurô and Nishida Kitarô,” in Confluences: Studies from East to West in Honor of V. H. Viglielmo, ed. Nobuko Ochner and William Ridgeway, College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2005, 43-55. “Guiding Principles of Interpretation in Watsuji Testurō’s History of Japanese Ethical Thought, With Particular Reference to His Formulation of the Tension Between the Sonnō and Bushidō Traditions,” in Frontiers of Japanese Philosophy, ed.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Confucianism Philosophy? the Answers of Inoue Tetsujirō and Nakae Chōmin
    Is Confucianism philosophy ? The answers of Inoue Tetsujirō and Nakae Chōmin Eddy Dufourmont To cite this version: Eddy Dufourmont. Is Confucianism philosophy ? The answers of Inoue Tetsujirō and Nakae Chōmin . Nakajima Takahiro. Whither Japanese Philosophy 2? Reflections through Other Eyes, , University of Tokyo Center of Philosophy, 2010. hal-01522302 HAL Id: hal-01522302 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01522302 Submitted on 19 May 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 71 4 Is Confucianism philosophy ? The answers of Inoue Tetsujirō and Nakae Chōmin Eddy DUFOURMONT University of Bordeaux 3/ CEJ Inalco Introduction: a philosophical debate from beyond the grave Is Chinese thought a philosophy? This question has been discussed by scholars in the last years from a philosophical point of view,1 but it is possible also to adopt a historical point of view to answer the ques- tion, since Japanese thinkers faced the same problem during Meiji period (1868–1912), when the acquisition of European thought put in question the place of Chinese
    [Show full text]
  • Asian Philosophy Philosophy 260 the College of St
    1 AsiAn PhilosoPhy PhilosoPhy 260 The College of St. Rose Dr. Laura E. Weed Spring 2013 T Th 11:15-12:30 Alb 213 Office: 458 Western Ave., second floor Phone: 458-5328 Office Hours: Thurs. 3:00 p.m.- 4:15 p.m. and by appointment e-mail: [email protected] Course Text: The Pulse of Wisdom, The Philosophies of India, China and Japan, 2nd ed., Michael C. Brannigan, Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, Belmont, CA, 2000 Course Objectives This course will give a broad overview of Asian Philosophy, over a span of over 4,000 years, and over a range of countries including India, China, Tibet, Japan and other countries of South East Asia. We will examine major schools of thought in the Asian traditions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, and read selections from some of the major texts of Asian Philosophy. We will also examine some of the commentaries on those texts and traditions written by major thinkers within those traditions. Students will gain an appreciation for several deeply rich and old cultures that are very different from the western one, with which most of you are more familiar, in many basic aspects of the world view. Students will also learn to recognize and become able to write about some of the key figures and ideas in Asian Philosophy. Course Evaluation & Expectations Evaluation will be based on three exams, one paper, and classwork. The exams will be worth 20% of your grade, each, and will test your knowledge of Indian Hinduism, Buddhism, and Chinese and Japanese Philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • Readings of Dōgen's Treasury of the True Dharma
    Journal of Buddhist Ethics ISSN 1076-9005 http://blogs.dickinson.edu/buddhistethics Volume 28, 2021 Readings of Dōgen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye Reviewed by Zuzana Kubovčáková Masaryk University [email protected] Copyright Notice: Digital copies of this work may be made and distributed provided no change is made and no alteration is made to the content. Reproduction in any other format, with the exception of a single copy for private study, requires the written permission of the author. All enquiries to: [email protected] A Review of Readings of Dōgen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye Zuzana Kubovčáková 1 Readings of Dōgen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye. By Steven Heine. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020, 312 pp., ISBN 978-0-231-18229-4 (paperback), $35.00. For those acquainted with the scholarship of Steven Heine, Readings of Dōgen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye comes as another of several of his outstanding volumes on the Japanese Zen master Dōgen 道元 (1200-1253) and the Zen tradition of the Sōtō school. As one of the leading figures in Dōgen studies cooperating widely across the field with both Japanese and Western scholars, Heine has in this recent publication aimed for the mas- terwork of Dōgen, the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, or Shōbōgenzō 正法 眼蔵 in Japanese. Dōgen’s Treasury of the True Dharma Eye is a compilation of informal sermons-turned-essays, intended for his disciples and the community, that are largely based on citations of Chinese masters and passages from kōan collections.
    [Show full text]
  • Newsletter of the Centre of Jaina Studies
    Jaina Studies NEWSLETTER OF THE CENTRE OF JAINA STUDIES March 2009 Issue 4 CoJS Newsletter • March 2009 • Issue 4 Centre for Jaina Studies' Members _____________________________________________________________________ SOAS MEMBERS EXTERNAL MEMBERS Honorary President Paul Dundas Professor J Clifford Wright (University of Edinburgh) Vedic, Classical Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit language and literature; comparative philology Dr William Johnson (University of Cardiff) Chair/Director of the Centre Jainism; Indian religion; Sanskrit Indian Dr Peter Flügel Epic; Classical Indian religions; Sanskrit drama. Jainism; Religion and society in South Asia; Anthropology of religion; Religion ASSOCIATE MEMBERS and law; South Asian diaspora. John Guy Professor Lawrence A. Babb (Metropolitan Mueum of Art) Dr Daud Ali (Amherst College) History of medieval South India; Chola Professor Phyllis Granoff courtly culture in early medieval India Professor Nalini Balbir (Yale University) (Sorbonne Nouvelle) Dr Crispin Branfoot Dr Julia Hegewald Hindu, Buddhist and Jain Architecture, Dr Piotr Balcerowicz (University of Manchester) Sculpture and Painting; Pilgrimage and (University of Warsaw) Sacred Geography, Archaeology and Professor Rishabh Chandra Jain Material Religion; South India Nick Barnard (Muzaffarpur University) (Victoria and Albert Museum) Professor Ian Brown Professor Padmanabh S. Jaini The modern economic and political Professor Satya Ranjan Banerjee (UC Berkeley) history of South East Asia; the economic (University of Kolkata)
    [Show full text]
  • The Existential Moment: Rereading Dōgen’S Theory of Time
    THE EXISTENTIAL MOMENT: REREADING DŌGEN’S THEORY OF TIME Rein Raud Department of World Cultures at the University of Helsinki, and Estonian Institute of Humanities at Tallinn University [email protected] Among all aspects of Dōgen’s philosophical thought, his theory of time has without doubt received the most attention. Even in English there exist two book-length studies of this topic,1 and a multitude of other authors who have treated Dōgen have also extensively commented on the subject.2 This is with good reason. Without an inter- pretation of Dōgen’s ideas on time it is very difficult to approach any other aspect of his thought, or even to form an adequate understanding of his basic concepts. And yet most previous studies of Dōgen’s time theory as well as English translations of the “Uji” (usually translated as “Being-time”) fascicle of the Shōbōgenzō have, to my knowledge, assumed without questioning certain presuppositions on the nature of time, which makes Dōgen’s theory much more complicated and in some respects almost impossible to understand (a position that I have myself also shared earlier3 and which has influenced many classic treatments4 as well as all the most influential English translations5 of the text). Notably, they have viewed time as primarily dura- tional. This article presents an effort to reinterpret the concept of time in Dōgen’s theory from a different position, with stress on the momentary rather than the dura- tional, and to offer an alternative reading of the Uji fascicle as well as certain other key passages in Dōgen’s work that, I hope, will enable a less complicated and more lucid understanding of his ideas.
    [Show full text]